Pong and Beyond

715th played so far

Genre: Action
Platform: Various
Year of Release: 2002
Developer: IO Interactive
Publisher: Eidos

I guess I’m trying to start the franchises that have multiple items on the list, where I haven’t started them yet. It’s not been something I’ve been actively seeking out, but when I am reminded of one, I do my best. More, at least, than I always do keeping up with them later – SimCity has had one entry covered, two to go, but because management sims are rare and I want to treasure these, they’re taking a while.

Anyway, the Hitman series needed their kick off, and with all the stories I’ve been hearing about the 2016 Hitman game, I really want to try it now. Time to go for it – stealthy assassinations a-plenty.

Our Thoughts

There are two ways to go with this game. The game has a large number of ways to tackle it. Taking the first main mission, for example, where you’re infiltrating a mafia member’s house to assassinate the boss. Sure, there’s the option for a killing spree, which I might have taken in parts of the game when I didn’t want to restart after everything went wrong, but that’s clearly not intended.

Instead, there’s an innocent mailman wandering to the house, a guard steps outside the walls for a wee and there’s a milk delivery. All three seem like valid options to get in, either by giving you a disguise or an unobserved path in. That then limits your next path, the direction into the mansion you’re infiltrating, and how you proceed. You still need to be careful that your disguise isn’t discovered, by staying in the right areas and staying unobtrusive, but sometimes murder isn’t the easiest way to solve that. I’m sure you can do all of it without killing anyone but the assassination target, but again, I struggled.

What got me is that the game was quite difficult and that I found the tutorial sparse in palces. While it mentions non lethal takedowns, for example, it doesn’t explain how to sneak properly (with crouch being a more natural button that doesn’t actually make you stealthy) and it took me a few goes to get it right. Even at the start, the game is difficult, regardless of difficulty level, and in the end I went for the aggressive mode – it felt more satisfying and less frustrating. It feels like this mostly comes down to polish, though, with some improved controls and tutorials taking you a long way.